LitQueuelitqueue

After

Eastern Standard Tribe

Cory Doctorow2004

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Hardwired

    Walter Jon Williams1986

    A hovertank pilot and a bodyguard team up to fight the orbital corporations that control Earth's resources.

    Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Dhalgren

    Samuel R. Delany1975

    An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

    sardonic → dreamlike, still unreliable narrator

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

  • Against the Day

    Thomas Pynchon2006

    A massive ensemble cast navigates the globe between the 1893 World's Fair and WWI. The plot spans airships, math, and secret societies.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • In Green's Jungles

    Gene Wolfe2000

    A narrator travels to different worlds while his physical form and memories shift. He recounts past voyages to prove his identity to his companions.

    sardonic → elegiac, still unreliable narrator

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • The Mane Event

    Shelly Laurenston2007

    A female cop reunites with a childhood friend who is now a lion-shifter. They navigate a romantic attraction while he pursues her in New York.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

  • Headcrash

    Bruce Bethke1995

    A computer programmer loses his job and enters a virtual reality underworld to seek revenge on the corporate elite. It is a satire of 1990s tech.

    Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose0·bleak-1

  • She Went All the Way

    Meg Cabot2002

    A screenwriter and an actor survive a helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness and must hike to safety while being pursued by a killer.

    sardonic → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

Faster

sardonic → propulsive, still cyberpunk

3 more ↓

  • Accelerando

    Charles Stross2005

    Three generations of a family navigate the rapid evolution of technology toward a singularity. The pace accelerates as humanity is outpaced by AI.

    sardonic → wry, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • The Stars My Destination

    Alfred Bester1956

    Gully Foyle is left for dead in space and spends years seeking revenge. He travels a future where humans can teleport using their minds.

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak0

  • Nexus

    Ramez Naam2012

    A scientist develops a nanotech drug that links minds and is hunted by government agencies. It is a high-speed global conspiracy thriller.

    pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Beelzebub's tales to his grandson

    Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff1950

    An extraterrestrial being explains the history and strange behaviors of humanity to his grandson during a long space voyage.

    sardonic → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • Ulysses

    James Joyce1914

    Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.

    sardonic → playful

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Heavier

3 more ↓

  • Random Acts of Senseless Violence

    Jack Womack1994

    A twelve-year-old girl records her life in a diary as New York City collapses into riots and hyperinflation. Her family falls into poverty.

    sardonic → bleak, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Hellspark

    Janet Kagan1988

    A linguist travels to a new planet to investigate a murder. She must determine if the local species is sentient while navigating a conspiracy.

    sardonic → tense, still cyberpunk

    pace+1·prose+1·bleak+2

  • Golem100

    Alfred Bester1980

    In a future city, a group of women accidentally summon a psychic monster that commits acts of extreme violence while investigators track it.

    Same sardonic register, still cyberpunk

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+2